Anti-skid device



March 22, 1960 C. T. HOLZMUELLER, SR

ANTI-SKID DEVICE Filed Jan. 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l S ggkwz Fig. 2

2 Charles 7. HoIzmue/ler, .Sr. 34

IN VEN TOR. 60 MW 6 BY I Arm):

March 22, 1960 c. T. HOLZMUELLER, sR 2,929,428

ANTI-SKID DEVICE Filed Jan. 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

Fig. 3

Charles 7: l-lo/zmuel/er, 8r.

INVENTOR.

1 BY WW 19% United States Patent ANTI-SKID DEVICE Charles T. Holzmneller, Sr., Drexel Hill, Pa.

Application January 15, 1959, Serial No. 787,018

1 Claim. (Cl. 152-236) This invention relates to anti-skid devices for motor vehicle wheels and more particularly to an anti-skid 'device which is simple in construction and far easier to apply than ordinary skid chains.

An object of the invention is to provide an anti-skid device for a motor vehicle wheel, wherein the wheel rim has a pair of flanges, each identically formed with spaced entrances and slots so that cross-chains having specially designed hooks at their ends may be inserted in the entrance and at least on one side of the rim, engaged in the slot, this being all that is necessary to apply the antiskid device on the wheel of a motor vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hookflange organization wherein one of the hooks is comparatively shallow and the other deep so that the shallow hook is slidable over the flange on one face of the wheel rim and the deep hook has a side which is engageable within a selected slot behind the flange or on the opposite face of the wheel rim. This construction enables the shallow hook to he slipped over one flange and held in place by tension in the cross-chain when the deeper hook is slid along the flange to the point at which the side of the deeper hook engages in the slot. The user of the device, therefore, need not grope around trying to find the slot on the backside of the wheel when applying the anti-skid device. Instead the backside of the wheel has the cross-chain first attached by simply slipping the shallow hook over the flange, and the front side of the wheel which is very easy to work from, has the deeper hook more accurately set by slipping the side of the hook into the slot on the front face of the wheel rim.

A further object of the invention is to provide an anti-skid device for a motor vehicle wheel, wherein the application of the anti-skid device, whether individual cross-chains or full chains, is considerably easier than conventional chains. The invention combines a portion of the rear wheel of a motor vehicle with the crosschains or full chains fastening means so that the wheel itself is used as an anchorage for the chains, instead of relying on chains in addition to chain tighteners to hold the anti-skid chain fastened to the wheel.

Another object of the invention constitutes a modification of the embodiment described above, and consists essentially of wheel mounted flanges on the front and rear faces of an otherwise conventional wheel, together with spaced entrances and slots and identical hooks for the front and rear faces of the wheel, the hooks being attached to the extremities of cross-chains or full chains and engageable in the slots on both sides of the wheel. Such an organization is not as easily installed on a wheel, but provides the advantage of being securely locked both at the front and the rear by actual inter-engagement of the hooks and their slots.

A further modification of the invention which is contemplated herein, is to have the flange on the inside face of the wheel made continuous, that is without entrances and without or with slots, but have the front face flange provided with entrances and slots. In this way the hook at the inside of the wheel may be engaged over the continuous flange, making it absolutely impossible to separate therefrom in the absence of breaking of the cross-chains, while the outside face of the wheel has the chain hooks easily installed by slipping them through the entrances and then sliding them a short distance circumferentially of the wheel until the inner sides of the hooks drop into the slots. In this modification of the invention, which is well suited for full chains and individual cross-chains, only a few hooks need be applied to the rear face of the wheel and to the front face of the wheel and yet the' chains will be held in place very securely.

The nature of a pneumatic tire used on all automobiles, trucks, buses, etc., materially aids in holding the chains in place. The tire has inherent resilience and willyield a very slight amount as the chains are being applied. The nature of the chain, ordinarily made of a plurality of connected links, enables the chains to he slid peripherally short distances in the clockwise or counterclockwise directions, further aiding in the application of th chains to the wheel.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and-in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a wheel equipped with chains in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale and taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of the backside of a tire and wheel fragment having one of the chains thereon.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing the front side of the wheel.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a wheel constructed with flanges to accept the cross-chains or full chains.

In the accompanying drawings there is a conventional tire 10 shown on wheel 12. The wheel has a rim 14 with a front face 16 and a rear face 18. Wheel rim 14 receives a tire 10, whether tubeless or with a tube 20, and has sides 22 and 24 against which the head of the tire bears.

In accordance with the invention flanges 26 and 28 are made integral with the outer edges of sides 24 and 22. Each flange is identical, consisting of a cylindrical portion 30 for flange 26 and a cylindrical portion 32 for flange 28. Right angularly arranged flange sides 34 and 36 are fixed to the outer edges of cylindrical portions 30 and 32. Circumferentially spaced entrances 38 and 40, each consisting of slots, are formed in the flange portions 30, 34 and 32, 36. Circumferentially spaced slots 42 and 44 are in flange portions 30 and 32. Instead of considering the structure added to the wheel rim as flanges having cylindrical portions and circumferential portions, as shown in Figure 5, this structure may be considered as made of a plurality of discrete, spaced- L- shaped brackets, sufliciently spaced circumferentially to define entrances 38 and 40. Regardless how considered, though, the structure is the same.

Since the most practical embodiment of the invention entails the use of cross-chains 46, a plurality of crosschains are illustrated in the drawings. Cross-chain 46 extends transversely across the tire, including the tread and side walls, and has a pair of hooks 48 and 50 at the ends thereof. Hook 48 has a first side 52, a cross member 54 and a second side 56. The hook 50 has an outer side 58, a cross member 60 and an inner side 62. Side 625s longer than side 56' thereby causing hook 50 to be deeper than the more shallow book 48.

In use, the hook 48 is first applied to the inside face of the wheel by slipping side 56 through one of the entrances 40 and circurnferentially moving the thooki'a short distance so that it engages in :pocket 64 formed :by the inner flange and a part of the side 22 of the wheel rim. Then, :the :hook 50 is engaged with the flange on the outer face of the wheel by slippingside 62 into one of the :entrances 38 and sliding the hook circumferentially of "the wheel until theextremity of side 62 of book 50 drops :into slot 42. The chain 46 is under tension all during "this procedure by fitting reasonably tight against the :outer surface of Zthertire.

When a full chain is used, the only difference will be that the extremities of the cross-chains .are connected by a closed loop on the inside and :on the outside faces ofpthe wheel.

As indicated previously the invention is susceptible to :numerous modifications, one being 'where the hook =48iis as ,deep as'the hook 50. In the illustrated modiiification the hook 48 'istshallow enough :so thattheextrem- :ity of side 50 does not bear against the surface of icylindrical portion '32. Instead, the inner surface of cross- -member '54 frictionally engages the inner periphery of flange 36. Where both hooks are made deep instead of shallow, though, the inner side of each book will penetrate slots 42 and 44.

Another contemplated embodiment of the invention is to omit entrances 40 and-slots 44 on the inner face of the wheel. The shallow hooks, :then, may simply be tengaged-over flange 36, while the hooks 50 on the outer face 'ofthe wheel are engaged in slots 42 thereby lock- :ing thecross-chains or full chains firmly in place von the wheel. Other modifications contemplated within the scope of the following claim may be resorted to without departing from the protection thereof.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

Anti-skid means for a wheel having a tire retaining rim provided with opposite outturned side rim flanges, said means comprising a plurality of external edge flanges on said rim flanges res pectively, of substantially right angled cross-section and spaced apart equidistantly circumferentially of said rim flanges, said external edge flanges comprising respectively, a circumferential portion extending laterally from the rim flange and integral therewith and provided with a slot therein, and an outer flat side portion extending from the circumferential porengagement with the outer side portions of a pair of the selected external edge flanges on the opposite rimfianges,

at least one of rs aid hooks having a straight side portion engageable in the slot in the circumferential portion of :the external edge flange the side portion of which is straddled bysaidyhOOk.

References-Cited-inthe file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,292,526 Silberman Jan. 28, 5:19.19 2,631,637 Purdy Mar. 17, ,1953 72,664,133 :Eger .Dec. 29, 1953 

